Dissatisfaction - all along the line

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Connex has more train carriages than it needs to cope with
peak-hour demand, but too many are sitting in maintenance sheds,
industry experts say.

Rows of carriages sit in a Newport maintenance depot, while
across the city commuters wait for late or cancelled services or
cram into half-length trains.

Connex and the State Government admit that the rail network is
not performing, and there are plans to shift a major depot and hire
extra platform staff.

Just over 12 months ago Connex took over full responsibility for
a previously divided network after the city's second privatised
train operator, M>Train, folded.

Since then, cancellations, although not as bad, have remained
high, customer satisfaction has dropped off and punctuality has
worsened on virtually every line. Connex appears to be making
little headway.

Its chairman, Bob Annells, told The Age that the company had
underestimated how hard it would be to reunite a system that had
been split since privatisation in 1999.

"No, we are not happy and, no, we are not doing enough for our
customers," he said. "There are a whole range of reasons, excuses,
justifications, but ultimately none of those matter or make the
people whose lives are interrupted feel any better."

This month Transport Minister Peter Batchelor warned Connex to
lift its game, and revealed it had been fined $12.8 million for
failing to meet performance benchmarks last financial year.

The Public Transport Users Association is scathing. "Continuing
mass cancellations and late running is causing regular
overcrowding," spokesman Chris Loader said. "Cancellations and
punctuality are now at the worst levels in six years."

For most of last year, the Government and Connex blamed
reliability and punctuality problems on a shortage of drivers - the
result of lax hiring by M>Train's parent company, National
Express.

But although the driver shortage has been largely remedied, the
system is still struggling. All parties now say the shortage was
masking other major problems, including the works on Spencer Street
Station, Flinders Street Station and the Regional Fast Rail
project, as well as the immense challenge of reintegrating two
separate, and often incompatible, groups of trains and drivers.

Work on reintegrating the old Connex and M>Train Comeng
carriages is being done alongside efforts to solve brake faults,
air-conditioning and power supply problems with newer Siemens
trains. Maintenance facilities are stretched.

"While the maintenance providers swear black and blue that they
are doing a great job, we don't share that view," he said.

Connex management is not happy with maintenance standards, and
will soon shift repair and servicing of the fleet's Comeng trains
from the antiquated Newport depot to Epping, with plans for the
Siemens-manufactured trains to follow.

Next week the Director of Public Transport, Jim Betts, will meet
Connex executives to thrash out ideas. "Train passengers have a
right to expect better services than we've had in the past 12
months," he said.

Mr Betts will offer to boost numbers of customer service staff
at some stations and have platform staff linked to the control
centre by mobile phone.